Flats singer Matt Levai handles his biz

Athlone singer and songwriter Matt Levai is taking Afrikaans drill music to the international stage after collaborating with hip hop legend Sneakbo.

Levai, whose real name is Matthew Julius, 24, said he has been in the music industry for 10 years where he’s been playing his unique blend of South African drill music.

With his upcoming track, Handling Biz, featuring the UK’s Sneakbo, he is expanding his reach even further.

Sneakbo’s claim to fame is that he inspired one of Drake’s albums.

“The song is about going out there, we are there to push our brands and our names and educate the people about drill sound,” Levai says.

Drill is a subgenre of hip hop that originated in Chicago in the early 2010s. It can be compared to trap and gangsta rap.

“The first Afrikaans drill song Wilson Block went viral on Tik Tok in 2021 and that led to so many people commercialising the sound.

“I realised that this could be an avenue other coloured kids could explore and can use as a platform for them to propel their own careers as well,” he adds.

Levai has been working with some renowned names in the music industry as he was previously signed to an American record label but was co-signed early last year by a well-known Cape Town rapper called Cream Machine.

Handling Biz will be released at the end of March.

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